Dissolution
by DancingKirby
Summary: The formation and breakup of Team Satisfaction, as seen through the eyes of Crow and Kiryu. This will be a rather dark fic.  Full list of warnings is inside.
1. The Meeting

A/N: I'm a bit nervous about writing this story. It'll probably be the darkest story I ever wrote by the end. I'm planning exactly four chapters, so maybe I'll actually be able to finish it if I have the structure planned out already.

WARNINGS: There will be numerous references to child prostitution and rape in this fic. Nothing "on-screen" will be very explicit, though. I'm not planning on doing any true yaoi, but there will be at least one unrequited male/male crush. Also: language, violence and a couple of references to drug use.

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><p>He hadn't been expecting it to be so <em>cold<em> out. It was May after all...almost summer! Still, Crow guessed it made sense, since it was the middle of the night and he'd been standing in this same spot for quite some time.

He tried pulling his vest closer around his body as he looked at the other people on the street. None of _them_ seemed to mind the chilly air. Maybe they were more used to it...or so high that they couldn't even feel it.

Crow knew that he didn't belong with these people; that he shouldn't even be here in the first place. Martha had lectured everyone about it more times than he could count. But Crow didn't need to take her word for it; he had experienced it firsthand when he was very young. He felt bad about going behind Martha's back like this, but he saw no other options. Part of him wanted to go home and sneak into bed like nothing had happened, but he was growing up now. That meant he had responsibilities.

Much to his dismay, though, everyone seemed to be ignoring him. Crow didn't get it...when he'd been on his own, they'd been all over him. Why was it different now? Most of the streetlamps were broken...maybe they couldn't see him in the dark. Or maybe it was due to the competition he had now. He cast a scowl at the group of women across the street from him. They were all wearing garish, revealing clothes and heavy makeup. Needless to say, Crow didn't have anything like _that _at his disposal_._

Perhaps, now that he was older, staying in one spot wouldn't work anymore. He might have to actually walk up to someone to start the transaction.

Crow had started scanning the crowds for likely candidates when he was startled by a very loud laugh. He whipped his head around and saw two people at the end of the block, walking in his direction.

It was a typical middle-aged john with a tall, slender woman accompanying him. The woman was the one who had laughed. She held on to her customer's arm as she daintily picked her way around the piles of garbage on the sidewalk.

Hey, wait a minute...Crow squinted at the woman as they got closer to him. That wasn't a woman at all! Yep, that was a guy all right, albeit one of the most beautiful guys he had ever seen. Even as an objective observer who had seen very few beautiful things in his life, Crow could tell that.

His skin was so pale that it seemed to glow in the dark. He had long arms and legs that were shown off by a black one-piece outfit that left little to the imagination. But most importantly, he seemed to be an expert at this. This boy was beaming up at the customer like he wanted nothing more than to be with him. Even his eyes looked happy.

Maybe he should ask this boy for help, Crow thought. He just wanted to get this over with so he could get the money, go home, and try to put this incident out of his mind. If that meant learning how to flirt, then okay.

Meanwhile, the older boy had gotten his own money. He waved at the customer and cheerfully said, "Come visit me any time!"

Once the john was out of sight, however, the boy's whole demeanor made a drastic change. The smile left his face, his shoulders slumped, and he sat heavily down on the curb. He didn't even notice that Crow was standing just a few feet away from him.

"_Fuck..._" he muttered as he hid his face in his hands. Crow continued to stand there, watching uncertainly. Should he ask for help now, before another customer showed up? Or should he leave the guy alone and try to do this by himself?

After a couple of minutes, Crow decided to take action. He wasn't the type to avoid confrontations, after all. Unfortunately, he didn't know much about sensitivity. He strode up and gave the guy a sharp poke in the back between the shoulder blades.

He got an instantaneous reaction. The boy's head shot up, and he yelped, "WHAT?"

Crow leaned back reflexively, but he was determined not to get scared off.

"Hi, I'm new here. Do you think you can help me with some things?" he said in a bit of a rush.

The older guy just stared at Crow blankly. Then he asked, "Could you repeat that?"

"I said, I'm new here and I need someone to teach me how to do all this."

"Okay, let me see if I've got this straight. You want me to tell you how to be a better whore, is that it?"

Crow nodded eagerly.

"Well, forget it."

What? But...Crow had been sure he was about to agree!

"I ain't telling you a thing except to get the fuck off the streets," the other boy continued, "You are way, _way_ too young to be out here."

Crow huffed and folded his arms across his chest. He was sick of people treating him like a baby! First Martha, and now this guy.

"But _you're _out here," he pointed out.

"But _I'm_ older than you are. What are you anyway...around eight?"

"Eleven," Crow ground out through his teeth. That was another one of his pet peeves...everyone seemed to underestimate his age.

"Well, still...my point stands," said the other boy airily. Crow fought the urge to punch him in his haughty face.

"So how old are _you_?" he demanded rudely.

"Eighteen," was the prompt answer.

When Crow continued to look at him dubiously, he cracked a smile.

"Okay, you got me. I'm fourteen."

"Hey! That's not _that_ much older than me!"

"Yes, but enough to make a difference..." the boy muttered mostly to himself. He looked at the ground, then back up at Crow.

"You don't seem to be a bad kid, though," he mused. He seemed to have forgotten about making Crow go home for now. Crow's legs were getting tired, so he sat down next to this guy. He didn't object.

"I'm Crow!" he said brightly.

"That's a strange name."

"It's not my real name."

"So what is your real name?"

Crow shrugged. He'd wondered about that himself, but he'd been left on his own at such a young age that he didn't remember.

He thought that the other guy would volunteer his name next, but he went back to staring at the pavement. After a minute or so Crow lost his patience.

"Hey come on, I told you _my_ name! It's your turn!" he exclaimed.

The boy looked up and down the street, as if making sure no one else could hear them. Then he said in a low voice, "Kiryu Kyosuke. But everyone just calls me Kiryu."

"How come?"

"Because otherwise I'll kill them!"

He laughed yet again. Crow couldn't quite tell whether he was being serious or not.

Kiryu abruptly stopped laughing and pressed on, "All right, now that we've introduced ourselves and all that, will you _please_ go home like I asked you to?"

Well, it looked like he hadn't forgotten after all. How could he make Kiryu understand that he had to do this?

"Look," Crow started, "I ain't some innocent little kid, okay? Martha doesn't have enough money for groceries, and she doesn't want us to know that. But I figured it out anyway. I mean...I mean, it's not like it really matters. I was doing it for food when I was three, so doing it for money now ain't a big deal or anything.."

He trailed off as he realized what he'd said. He hadn't been planning on telling his whole life story to a near-stranger. He ducked his head so Kiryu couldn't see that he was fighting back tears.

When he sneaked a glance back up, Kiryu was staring at him incredulously.

"...Seriously. You were _three_?" he asked.

"Yeah. But don't hug me or any of that mushy stuff," Crow snapped.

"I wasn't going to."

"Good." Though, deep down, Crow thought maybe he wouldn't have objected very strongly had Kiryu actually hugged him.

Kiryu's expression softened for a bit, then he sighed and shook his head.

"That's still not an excuse, Crow. You should let this Martha person take care of things. At least you have somewhere to live now."

"I know. I was lucky," mumbled Crow. However, he still didn't make any move to leave.

"It's not fair!" Kiryu declared as he smacked his fist into his palm, "Kids here really only have two choices...join a gang or become a whore. Why won't anyone _do_ anything?"

Crow decided it would be best to keep his mouth shut. Kiryu had listened to him, so he felt he should repay the favor.

"I want to do something...I have all this energy inside me that I want to use, but I'm just...stuck here watching as all this _shit_ happens to little kids! I was sure I could make it out of here when I ran away, but now...I'm like everyone else."

It was as if he had taken the thoughts right out of Crow's head. Sure, Jack complained about this city a lot, and Yusei did join Crow in helping out with the younger children at Martha's, but Kiryu was the first person he knew who had been so...impassioned about the situation.

"We could try fighting them together," Crow offered only half-jokingly. Kiryu snorted.

"Yeah, that would work. An eleven-year-old and a fourteen-year-old, taking down all the bad guys." He laughed again, but this time it was lower and more bitter. Then he reached into a nearly-invisible pocket on his hip.

"I tell you what...if you need money so bad, I'll share mine with you," he said as he separated two thousand-yen notes from the main bundle.

Crow was very affronted.

"I can't take your money!" he sputtered.

"You can and you will," Kiryu insisted. Crow opened his mouth to argue again, but it was obvious he wasn't going to win this. He grudgingly accepted the two notes, then stood up.

"I'll repay you. Someday," he vowed.

"Okay, then," Kiryu replied, but it was clear he didn't believe Crow.

"Uh...so. Bye, I guess," stammered Crow. He didn't wait for Kiryu's response before he turned and ran off to Martha's house.

Now, the trick would be to get back in without her noticing...


	2. Creation

A/N: I'm sorry about the disparity in length between the first chapter and this one, but better that the chapters get longer than shorter, right? I worked hard on this, and I hope it shows!

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><p>All in all, Kiryu thought, it had been a good night so far. He'd only had one customer, but said customer apparently had a lower-limb fetish and had paid Kiryu a thousand yen extra to give him a foot-job. This was far from the weirdest request that Kiryu had ever gotten, and any act that didn't involve an orifice felt like a bonus in and of itself.<p>

Too bad that nights like these were getting fewer and farther between. At sixteen, Kiryu was already taller than most of his customers, so his whole Lolita role was getting awkward. He didn't know how much longer he had before people lost interest in him entirely. And when that happened...what would he do? He had a day job doing mending for people, but that wouldn't be enough to keep him afloat by itself.

If things didn't change soon, Kiryu was scared he would burn out. All these six years he had been by himself, he had been proud of the fact that he had stayed away from drugs. But he knew that sooner or later everyone gave in to temptation. And once you were in, it was virtually impossible to get out.

While he was pondering this, Kiryu had been walking slowly down the street, with no particular destination in mind. He wasn't quite sure why he'd chosen to head this way...he didn't go here often since it was a fairly low-traffic area. Therefore, not the best place for a hooker to set up shop.

He was just about to go back when a flash of color caught the corner of his eye. He turned to get a better look, then sighed in disgust. Someone was lying face down in an alley nearby. The person's bright orange hair was what Kiryu had seen; if it hadn't been for that, he most likely wouldn't have noticed anything at all.

He walked over to take a closer look. The person had a somewhat muscular build, so it was probably a male. There were no obvious signs of injury. It was probably some passed-out drunk, Kiryu surmised. Not an uncommon sight in Satellite. He decided to at least check to see if this person was still alive.

Kiryu prodded the body as gently as he could with his foot, and was relieved to see it stir and moan. He had found corpses of people who had OD'ed before, and it wasn't a pleasant experience.

Well, now that _that_ problem was solved, he was free to go. He started to walk away, but for some reason felt compelled to cast one last look over his shoulder. Serendipitously, the person on the ground chose that moment to move again. His head lifted up for a brief moment, then dropped back down before Kiryu could get a good look at the face.

"Get off the ground, you idiot! You looking to get raped or something?" Kiryu shouted in exasperation. Honestly, why did he even bother trying to help people like this?

He resumed walking, only to freeze when he heard the small voice.

"Kiryu...? Is that you?"

No...it couldn't be. It was too much of a coincidence. But how many other people were there who both knew his name and had hair like that?

"Yeah, it's me. What the hell happened?"

Really, Kiryu didn't know why he had asked that question, since it was perfectly clear what had happened. He shook his head. Whoever had dubbed this boy "Crow" had chosen well, since it was obvious he got into trouble as much as one of those ornery birds.

Crow, meanwhile, had started to try to sit up, but he couldn't do so without grimacing. Kiryu rushed over and helped him into a kneeling position, furiously scolding him all the while.

"I _told_ you not to get into this. And what do you do? You fucking _ignore_ me, that's what. You sell yourself like this, it ain't going to be sunshine and rainbows. Are you even listening to me at all?"

Crow bowed his head and sniffled. Kiryu decided that this might not be the best time to continue lecturing him.

"Yeah...okay, I guess I should shut up and let you cry for a bit, hm?"

"I ain't crying...I just got allergies!" Crow shot back.

Right...that was up there with "my dog ate my homework." Kiryu managed to keep his thoughts to himself, though.

He was wondering whether he'd have to stay here all night, but Crow pulled himself together in a matter of minutes.

"I'd forgotten how much it hurts..." he mumbled, obviously embarrassed that someone had seen him in a time of weakness. Kiryu knew that hugging was out of the question, so after some consideration he gave Crow a couple of pats on the shoulder instead.

When Crow finally lifted his head up all the way, Kiryu got another surprise.

"Is that a criminal marker?" he inquired. Crow nodded.

"And how old are you again?" Kiryu pressed on.

"Thirteen."

"You just had to get a head start, huh? Actually, I don't think I've seen anyone with that marker before."

Crow managed a shaky smile.

"Heh...I guess they liked me so much, they wanted to give me one that was special," he joked.

Kiryu shook his head and chuckled.

"Crow, you are really something else. Anyone ever tell you that before?"

"Oh, Jack tells me that just about every day...but he says it in a less polite way."

Well, this kid might be dumber than a box of rocks, but he did have spirit. Evidently, he had decided that he was sufficiently recovered, since he abruptly stood up. That didn't go so well, though, as his legs wobbled and he had to slump against a wall for support.

"Whoa...take it easy!" Kiryu cautioned. Crow ignored him as he tried again to stand without help, but this attempt was no more successful. At this rate, he would probably take about an hour to get to the street. He may not have wanted to admit it, but he needed help.

"That's it, you're coming with me," Kiryu said almost without thinking. Crow shook his head angrily.

"I'm _fine_!" he insisted. To try to prove his point, he took one step away from the wall, and managed not to fall on the ground. He looked up at Kiryu triumphantly, as if this would eliminate all doubts in Kiryu's mind. But the older boy raised an eyebrow in doubt.

"And just how far away is your house?" he asked.

"Not far. Maybe two miles."

"No way you'll be able to walk that much tonight. My place is closer."

"But...but I have kids to look after!" Crow protested.

"Can't that lady you live with look after them?"

"I moved out on my own."

"So who's watching the kids right now?"

"I got Bolger to stay over for the night," Crow answered while making a face, "He'll be expecting me to pay him, but at least he doesn't ask questions. Unlike certain _other_ people."

Kiryu decided to ignore that last remark while Crow, thus reminded of money, checked his pocket to make sure that his hard-earned cash was still there. Apparently, everything was in place.

"Well," Kiryu reasoned, "Then they'll be fine until the morning, right? Now come on before I have to carry you over my shoulder."

"Oh, now I'm _really_ tempted to go with you."

He had a point. With someone who had a past like Crow's, threatening to abduct him probably wasn't very wise.

"Well, suit yourself, then. If you really want to go off on your own, I guess I shouldn't stop you. But if you hurt yourself even more and can't get back to your kids, don't blame me."

That gave Crow pause. Finally, he sighed.

"Fine, fine, if it'll get you to shut up I'll go with you. But if you try to pull any funny stuff, I'll punch in that pretty face of yours."

"Sounds fair enough," Kiryu answered. He couldn't keep the trace of amusement out of his voice.

What he should really be doing, he thought as he and Crow turned out of the alley, was getting this guy to a hospital. But the thought of such an establishment in Satellite was laughable at best.

The trip to Kiryu's little abode was slow-paced, but uneventful. Finally, they reached a building which would have been torn down long ago in most other cities. By this point, Crow was so exhausted that he couldn't walk without leaning heavily on Kiryu's shoulder. It seemed like he had finally accepted the merits of this idea.

Walking into this building was never dull. There was always the suspense of not knowing when a floorboard would give out, or when a huge spider would fall on your head. Thankfully, nothing went wrong this night.

Kiryu turned on the overhead light. He was pleased to see that the electricity was actually working tonight. The room where he lived only had a bare minimum of furnishings. He didn't even have a bed frame; so far as he was concerned the floor was a good enough place to put his mattress. Other than a couple of cheap folding chairs, the only real piece of furniture was a table pushed up against one wall. This was where he displayed his most important possessions; his duel disk, his deck, and a large wooden box.

He waited until Crow had settled himself onto the mattress, and then informed him, "Okay, I'm going back out. There's ramen near the stove if you get hungry."

No answer. When Kiryu looked over, he saw that Crow was already asleep. And when Kiryu returned around dawn, he was still sleeping. Kiryu decided not to disturb him, and spread a blanket on the floor for himself to sleep on.

When he woke up, it was around noon and Crow had long since left.

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><p>The days passed, and Kiryu had no further encounters with Crow. This gave him conflicting feelings. On one hand, he was glad that Crow wasn't getting hurt again, but he also kind of missed the guy. It was weird, but he felt like he'd known Crow forever when they'd only met twice.<p>

When Crow did decide to show up, though, it caught Kiryu off-guard.

It was about two weeks after the incident. Kiryu had been sleeping when he was rudely awakened by a knock on his door.

He managed to wrest himself from bed, staggered over to the door, and without even bothering to open it, growled, "This better be good for waking me up so fucking early."

A pause, and then the slightly muffled voice on the other side answered, "Dude, it's like two in the afternoon."

The voice was instantly recognizable even to Kiryu's sleep-befuddled brain.

"Can you wait a few minutes?" he asked while trying to stifle a yawn.

"Sure!" came the cheerful reply. Kiryu staggered over to the kitchen sink and splashed some cold water on his face. There...now he was slightly more alert. Then he had to wash the rest of his body as best he could and change into some presentable clothes. He had been too tired to even change out of his whore outfit when he'd gotten back home that morning.

As he walked back to the door, he briefly wondered how Crow had been able to find this place when he'd been nearly asleep the last time he had seen it.

He swung the door open, and Crow had to jump back to avoid getting hit by it.

"So what brings you back here?" Kiryu asked.

"I realized I never repaid you," Crow answered.

It took a while for Kiryu to figure out what he was talking about.

"Huh? Oh, that? I'd forgotten about that."

"Well, I didn't," said Crow bluntly. He pressed two thousand yen into Kiryu's hand. Well, it would be lying to say that it wouldn't be appreciated. Kiryu had been having a bit of trouble finding enough money to pay the water bill.

"Okay, so that means we're even now," Kiryu stated as he pocketed the very crumpled notes.

"Well...not quite, Kiryu. I mean...you did something for me. I'll have to repay that too."

All right, now _this_ was a toughie. Kiryu prided himself on being self-sufficient. But wait...there _was_ one thing that he was missing.

"How about...you just be my friend and come over every now and then? I don't really have anyone to talk to."

Crow beamed and exclaimed, "That's a great idea! You can never have enough friends, that's what I say."

"So...want to come in and chat for a bit?"

"Right on!" Crow shouted as he bounded into the foyer. Then, a few seconds later, "Yo Kiryu!"

"Yes?" Kiryu answered as he walked in more slowly.

"What's in this box? You know, the one on the table?"

Kiryu shook his head. Did this guy have any tact at all? For all he knew, the contents of the box might be a touchy subject. But fortunately for Crow, it wasn't.

"That's my sewing kit," he said as he walked into the main room.

"Neat!" exclaimed Crow as he picked the box up and shook it slightly.

"Hey, don't do that! It'll jumble everything up."

"Oh...right. Sorry!" said Crow sheepishly, who quickly put the box back in its place. Then he sat down heavily in one of the folding chairs and asked, "So is sewing like a hobby for you?"

"I guess you could say that. I also mend people's clothes sometimes, but there's only so much I can do without a sewing machine."

"Did you make that black outfit thingy yourself?"

"Actually, yeah, I did," said Kiryu, who was surprised at Crow's alacrity, "It was the only chance I had to make something...wild, you know? I've heard that in the City, there're whole schools where people can go to learn about this stuff, but I do the best with what I got."

For once, Crow didn't seem to have anything to say in response. Kiryu got a little embarrassed.

"But enough about me," he rushed on, "You're probably all bored and shit."

" 'Course not!" said Crow indignantly, "I thought it was real deep. Kind of like Yusei talking about his D-Wheel."

"Is this Yusei your friend?"

"Well, he's a bit more than that. Me and him and Jack all grew up together."

"So? Tell me a bit about them!"

Crow was only too happy to oblige.

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><p>Kiryu soon figured out that, while he may have been skilled in designing clothes, Crow's talent was storytelling. He'd never met any of Crow's friends, but it was almost like they were right there in the room when Crow talked about them. His favorite topic seemed to be the comical misadventures of Jack, who never seemed to run out of ways to get on Crow's nerves.<p>

There were some more serious discussions, too. Kiryu related how he had been forced to run away from home and start a new life because his father kept beating him up. In a lot of ways, Crow's life had been even worse. He hadn't even been able to choose his life; he'd been dumped on the street before he was even old enough to know what was going on. That was a rough past even by Satellite standards, but Crow took it all in stride.

In fact, with all of this talk of the general terribleness of life in Satellite, it was a bit surprising that they didn't think up their big idea earlier than they did. As it was, the brainstorm happened during Crow's fourth visit.

"So first Jack used up all the shampoo this morning before anyone else had a turn in the shower," Crow was saying, "And then he started _singing_! I think my eardrums blew up or something."

Kiryu smiled and answered, "Well, your ears look fine to me. But why do you let Jack stay at your house if you hate him so much?"

Crow looked a bit taken aback.

"Nah, I don't _hate_ him; what made you think that? He's okay once you know how to handle him. Plus, things would get really boring if he wasn't there. Yusei really doesn't like to talk much."

"Sounds like you're all pretty close."

"Most of the time."

"I wish I could meet them."

Crow looked thoughtful.

"Well, why not?" he said carefully, "Remember what I said the very first time we met? About teaming up and taking down all the gangs? Why don't we do that with Yusei and Jack? I'd been meaning to ask you, but I never really had the chance until now."

"And_ I_ remember what I told you then," Kiryu retorted, "It's a nice idea, but it just wouldn't work. Those gang leaders are all fully-grown men...we wouldn't stand a chance against them even if there were four of us."

"Yeah, but we wouldn't, like, try to beat them up. We'd _duel_ them!"

"And what makes you think they'd stick to their word even if we do win? What would be stopping them from just turning right around and..."

Kiryu abruptly stopped. He stood up, walked over to the table and picked up his duel disk.

"Wait a minute..." he breathed as he turned the disk over in his hands.

"You got an idea?" Crow asked.

"What if we could find some way to _disable_ their duel disks? These things are fucking expensive...it would take them ages to get a replacement!"

"Yusei's good with that sort of thing...he'd be able to figure out how to do that!"

"And...and we could restrain them so they can't get away!"

"And we could do stake-outs and sneak up on them and everything!"

Their voices were growing more excited by the second as they threw around ideas. Then Crow got quiet.

"It would be kinda playin' dirty to just blow up their duel disk without warning them or nothing," he pointed out.

Well, that was a bit of a problem. Kiryu mulled it over for a minute or two, then came up with a solution.

"How about we do a deal before? Loser gets their disk blown up. Of course, that would mean we'd never be able to lose."

Crow just grinned.

"I like the way you think!" he exclaimed.

They spent quite a bit of time laying out how they would explain all of this to Yusei and Jack. They decided that Kiryu would be the one who would do the talking. Crow offered to hold the meeting at his little hideout.

"So...can you get there at four?" Crow asked, "I think Pearson'll be able to take the kids, so it won't be too crowded."

"Sounds fine to me."

"Great! Oh, and by the way, can you not tell the guys how we met? They don't know that I went out and...did that thing."

"They'll have to find out some time, you know."

"But I want to be the one to tell them. Otherwise they might get mad."

"Well, if it means that much to you...okay."

"Thanks, Kiryu!" Crow sang out. He started skipping as he left the house.

"Watch the floorboards!" Kiryu warned.

"Oh yeah..forgot!" Crow then walked the rest of the way normally and shut the door.

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><p>For the first time in what seemed like forever, Kiryu stayed at home that night. If he was going to devote his time to this cause, he wanted to get a good, clean start.<p>

The next day, he even found _himself_ skipping as he set off for the meeting. People on the street were glancing at him oddly, but he didn't care. It was like his old self was back; the way he was back when he was a child and people still called him "Kyosuke". As "Kiryu", he had learned to grow numb to everything, and he'd almost forgotten what he'd been like then.

It took him longer than expected to find Crow's place. Crow had said that it was "near the bridge", but a surprisingly large number of people were camped out there. Finally, after having to ask around for some better directions, he arrived at the correct location.

The door looked like it might fall apart if he tried to knock on it, so instead Kiryu rapped on the door frame while calling out, "Anyone in here?"

The door was whisked open almost immediately.

"You're twenty minutes late," scowled the blond boy on the other side of the door. Well, that had to be Jack.

Kiryu apologized, but Jack didn't wait for him to finish before he yelled into the house, "Hey Crow, your boyfriend decided to show up!" Crow shouted a string of curses back at him.

"Do you have to say that every single time, Jack?" sighed a third boy-Yusei, obviously-as he walked up to the door.

"Yes. Yes, I do!" Jack declared.

Yusei ignored this as he sized Kiryu up. That guy had just about the most intense gaze that Kiryu had ever seen.

"So...uh...can I come in?" Kiryu finally inquired.

"Yeah, sure, come on. Crow's in the back room, and he won't tell us what he's doing or what the hell this is all about," Jack grumbled.

The structure was even smaller than where Kiryu lived, but it had quite a bit more furniture. Crow evidently liked decorating with anything he could scrounge from the junkyard. There were photographs on just about every available surface, and a large basket filled with toys and cards sat in a corner.

As soon as they had all found places to sit, Jack picked up right where he had left off on his verbal assault of Crow.

"Hey, I figured out what you're doing back there!" he said gleefully, "You're so excited about your _boyfriend _that you're jerking off!"

"OH, FUCK YOU!"

"Sorry, but I'm straight...ask _him!"_

Jack laughed maniacally as Crow blew him a raspberry.

"Is it always like this?" Kiryu asked Yusei. He had been expecting a bit of craziness, but not quite this much.

"No. This is actually fairly subdued for them," Yusei explained.

"Okay, I'm done!" Crow then shouted. There was a loud scraping noise as he dragged something into the main room.

"Ta-da! See, it's a blackboard! We can use it to explain stuff!"

Actually, it was a four-by-six-foot piece of plywood covered by some not very clean canvas. But Kiryu thought it would definitely come in handy for describing those grappling hooks that he and Crow had talked about.

"So?" Jack snapped, "Are you going to let us in on your little secret or what?"

"Be polite, Jack," Yusei admonished. Astonishingly, Jack quieted down.

Once everyone had fallen silent, Kiryu cleared his throat and began.

"Right...so, my name is Kiryu Kyosuke and I'm a friend of Crow's. Yesterday, we were talking when we came up with this idea..."

* * *

><p>It was strange, having people look up to him like this. He felt like a teacher at one of Neo Domino's fancy universities as he wrote on the improvised blackboard with a Magic Marker. At the same time, however, it made him feel empowered. He'd never been in a leading role before, but it seemed to come naturally to him. Ultimately, he only stopped talking when the sun began to set and it got too dark to see the board.<p>

"Well...is everybody in or what?" he finally asked. He realized that he hadn't even thought of what he'd do if they said no.

"I'm in," replied Yusei quickly.

"I'm in," echoed Crow, "But you already knew that!"

They all waited for Jack to speak. After several seconds, he said, "I don't know."

Crow looked like he was about to tear Jack's head off, but before it could get ugly, Kiryu interceded.

"Let me deal with this, Crow. Jack, I know it's risky, but what else could you do with your life in this dump? This is our chance to actually contribute something, to get something accomplished!"

"And since were you afraid of taking a risk? If you're scared, we'll just go on without you," Yusei chimed in.

"Are you saying I'm a coward?" Jack bellowed.

"Maybe."

"Well, I'm _not! _I'll join this group and do better than any of you!"

Yusei and Crow snuck grins over at Kiryu. He gave them the thumbs-up sign.

"Okay!" said Kiryu eagerly, "Now that this is settled, I think our first order of business should be to come up with a name!"

"The Aristocrats," Jack offered promptly. Crow rolled his eyes.

"Be serious, you jerkwad!" he groaned.

"I _was_ being serious, lamebrain!" Jack countered.

As they continued to argue, Yusei suggested something, but he could barely heard over the noise. If Kiryu hadn't noticed his lips move, he would have missed it entirely.

"Did you want to say something, Yusei?" he inquired loudly. Luckily, that got Jack and Crow to shut up.

"Well," Yusei started over, "What about Team Satisfaction? If you don't like it, that's all right."

He was looking right at Kiryu...why did those eyes make him so _nervous_?

"Uh...no, actually, I like that," he stammered. Crow and Jack voiced their approval as well. Kiryu went over to the board and spelled out the name in large katakana.

"Team Satisfaction it is!" he declared.

"If we have a team name, we should have a uniform too," Jack opined. He whipped his head around to Crow, but Crow didn't argue.

"Yeah, for once I think you're right," Crow responded.

Kiryu told them, "I'll see what I can sew up...it might take a few weeks for me to finish. But that's fine with you, right? I don't think we'll be short on time!"

He couldn't resist clapping his hands together and exclaiming, "This is going to be fun!"


	3. The Parting

A/N: It was a long time in the making, but it's finally done! Enjoy this, because I have a feeling that the last chapter will take a while too.

Also, I thought up the part with Crow's flashback on the spur of the moment. But I think it turned out rather well!

* * *

><p>The following year was the best that any of them could remember experiencing. Oh, it wasn't perfect, of course...they had their share of disagreements over how to best approach situations. For example, Crow might voice exasperation at always having to be the "bait," or they would all have different opinions on how long to hold a stakeout before making a move. Sometimes their arguments even grew physical. However, they knew they couldn't afford to stay mad at each other for long, and in the end everything always seemed to turn out all right.<p>

To Crow's surprise, despite Jack's earlier hesitation he ended up applying himself wholeheartedly to this cause. Kiryu thrived in his job as leader; he never seemed to run out of enthusiasm. Yusei was like the glue that held them all together. More often than not, he'd be the one to break up the arguments. And as for Crow himself...well, he was just happy to have the chance to improve life in this dump a bit.

Their life wasn't exciting all the time, though. During the day, their lives were much the same as they had been before. They spent a lot of time doing various odd jobs for whatever people were willing to pay them. Kiryu was adamant that all team funds must be obtained legally. Crow spent most of his spare time with the handful of kids under his care. Sometimes, he also helped Pearson with his much larger group.

Things had been going along like this for several months when they got a major scare. Shortly after New Year's, Satellite had an outbreak of the flu, and all four boys got sick. Crow, Yusei and Jack were mostly better after a week or so, but Kiryu recovered at an agonizingly slow pace. Days turned into weeks, and Kiryu remained bedridden and feverish. Dr. Schmidt had his hands full with sick people already, so all that could be done was to put team activities on hiatus and hope for the best.

In the end, though his life never seemed to be in immediate danger, Kiryu kept to his bed for nearly a month, and took several weeks after that to fully recover. But even after that, something about him seemed...off. He'd never been one to lose his temper easily, but now he snapped at the other boys over every little thing. At first this was easily explainable...anyone would get a bit grumpy when recovering from such a long illness. So Yusei, Crow, and Jack decided to try to cheer Kiryu up again. His seventeenth birthday was in late February, so they began a lookout for an extra-special gift.

This was quite a significant gesture on their part, since birthday celebrations of any kind were virtually unheard-of in Satellite. Crow had turned fourteen that past October, Yusei had turned fifteen two months later, and both of them had gone about their day just as always. One time, on a rare night when Crow's minuscule TV had decent reception, the four of them had seen a birthday party scene in a commercial. They were rolling on the floor laughing at the ostentatious display for about ten minutes, long after the commercial break was over. So this year Kiryu was going to get the surprise of a lifetime.

Crow couldn't believe his eyes at first when he made his discovery in the junkyard, and neither could Yusei and Jack when he dragged it home. It was like the trash gods had sent this down just for them. Proudly perched on top of a rusty car frame was an old sewing machine. Kiryu had expressed his longing for such a device many times.

Of course, it wasn't quite in perfect condition. Most of its parts had been long since stripped by foragers. Crow was more than a bit annoyed by this, but he had to admit that he would have done the same thing if he'd been in their place. Their only option was to make replacement parts themselves. Martha had a sewing machine of her own that they used for reference. It was a different brand than theirs, but it still gave them a fairly good idea of the size and shape of the parts.

All three boys worked on the refurbishment...Jack hardly complained about it at all. They found scrap metal, melted it down, and poured it into the molds of their own design. It was a wonder no one got serious injuries from the molten metal...and that Kiryu didn't barge in on them in the middle of the process. He had a habit of dropping in unexpectedly, and they wouldn't have been able to hide their project in time if he had done this.

It was an exciting moment when they could finally put a foot on the pedal and hear the machine run. It didn't always work completely smoothly, though. Sometimes it got stuck, and to get it unstuck one had to lift it a couple of inches off the table and drop it back down. Overall, however, it was much more efficient and faster than sewing by hand. If Kiryu was able to do more mending, it would benefit them all, since it meant more money for their treasury. But even if this hadn't been the case, it would still have been worth it simply because of Kiryu's reaction.

They'd brought Kiryu to Crow's place under the pretext of discussing new leads on the latest gang they were tracking down. Kiryu seemed apprehensive about this...probably because _he_ was usually the one to initiate team meetings...but he went with them anyway.

When they'd reached the house, they made Kiryu sit down and put on a blindfold. Now he was getting quite a bit freaked out.

"What the hell IS all this about, anyway?" he said as he darted his head back and forth. It was as they'd hoped...the thought of this being related to his birthday didn't even seem to be crossing his mind.

They had practiced the next part of the plan many times, to make sure that their coordination was perfectly-timed. Yusei brought the sewing machine, which was draped with a cloth, out from the back room. Then Jack, who had snuck behind Kiryu, removed the blindfold. They gave Kiryu the briefest of instants to adjust his vision, then Crow dramatically pulled the cloth off the machine with a loud "SURPRISE!"

Kiryu let out a quite girly-sounding shriek. If it had been any other time, they would have teased him about it endlessly.

"Is that...for me?" he breathed.

"No, it's for Yusei. We were just messing with you," Jack said in a deadpan voice. He paused a beat, then added, "Of course it's for you, idiot!"

Kiryu just sat there stunned. Then he said, "You guys are just...so fucking AWESOME! Now come here!"

He spread out his arms, and they all ran over and had a group hug. When they broke apart, Yusei said in a somber voice, "We're extremely sorry, but we couldn't get any of that fancy paper to wrap it in."

They all howled in laughter at this, as much over the fact that Yusei told an actual joke than over the joke itself. And maybe, just maybe, they were laughing in relief that the old Kiryu was back.

* * *

><p>Crow struggled to stay awake. This had to be their most boring stakeout yet. He and Kiryu were paired together, and Jack and Yusei were watching another location. They almost always did it this way since Yusei was the only one of them that Jack could get along with for extended periods of time. Currently, the two of them were sitting on the roof of an old warehouse so they could have a better view. It was a good idea, except that there was nothing to actually <em>see<em> today.

He felt his head start to nod, only to be snapped back to full awakeness by Kiryu's voice.

"Crow?"

"Yeah?" Great, Crow thought. Now he was going to get a scolding for being lazy.

"Have you ever been in love?"

All Crow could do was stare at Kiryu stupidly. What sort of question was _that?_ Crow didn't think that love of that kind even existed in Satellite. It seemed more like a rich-people thing.

Kiryu chuckled.

"Yeah, that was a dumb question; of course you haven't. Okay, how about: have you ever really wanted to have sex with someone, but couldn't?"

Crow supposed he knew slightly more about that stuff. He'd finally started to go through puberty properly around his fourteenth birthday (and was very thankful that Jack couldn't mock his high-pitched boy voice anymore), so he did get some vague urges every now and then.

Plus, he was living with three other guys all around the same age, and by now everyone on the team had either walked in on, or been walked in on _by_, someone during a very inconvenient moment. It was an unspoken rule that no one was allowed to make fun of anyone else's occasions of being busted, since they were all experiencing the same stuff.

So yeah, Crow knew about all that. But he still couldn't fathom wanting to have sex with an actual person. He was pretty sure that Pearson and Bolger did...things...sometimes, but thinking about doing it himself with anyone-male or female-made Crow's stomach turn. He thought that his experiences as a young kid had messed up the part of his brain that would have normally wanted to do that stuff. And he'd assumed that Kiryu had felt the same way.

"No, can't say I have," he ultimately replied.

"You're lucky, then," sighed Kiryu.

Well, _this_ was never a conversation that Crow had expected to have. True, Kiryu would often say very random things, but it had always been when he was excited and/or joking. Now, he looked almost...depressed.

And had he always had those dark circles under his eyes, or was that just the effect of the sun going down? Now that Crow was looking carefully, Kiryu's cheekbones also looked quite a bit sharper than they had before his bout with the flu.

"You feeling all right?" he asked, "You look a bit thin."

He hadn't meant any harm, but the way Kiryu reacted one would think Crow had asked about his bathroom habits.

"Yeah, well, it ain't easy gaining weight back in this place. So how about you mind your own damn business?" he snapped.

Crow recoiled and held up his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay, sheesh! No need to bite my head off or nothing!"

After that, they resumed the quiet tedium of watching the street.

It _really_ wasn't like Kiryu at all to act this defensive. Maybe the boredom had gotten to him too; that was probably it. Or maybe something deeper was bothering him. Whatever it was, he'd get over it.

There were no further incidents, and Crow pushed the episode to the back of his mind. Shortly after this, they finally managed to bust all the gangs in that last tricky sector. In just under a year, they had reached their goal. The feeling of elation lasted for several weeks. But Kiryu insisted that the work wasn't over...they still had to be vigilant about keeping things orderly. And this was when the problems began in earnest.

* * *

><p>The first incident happened in July. Satellite was in the grip of an intense heat wave, and it had been very difficult for the boys to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. Of course, they had no air conditioning, so they had all been forced to strip down to their underwear and spread their bodies out to occupy as much surface area as possible.<p>

Just when Crow had finally dozed off, he, Yusei, and Jack were rudely awakened.

"All right people, time to get up! We have work to do!" yelled Kiryu as he shined a flashlight into their faces.

Crow and Yusei were still mostly asleep and couldn't move, but Jack managed to shield his face with his arm.

"Wha' the hell you talkin' about?" he yawned.

"I was just out around town and I saw _drug dealers_ out there!" Kiryu shouted. "Now come on, are we taking them down or what?"

Crow sat up and squinted. Kiryu was in the same state of undress as the rest of them. Wait...so he had gone outside in his _underwear?_ No, now was probably not the best time to ponder that.

In the mean time, Yusei had finally found a light switch and flipped it on.

"Yesterday, you said we could have the day off because of the heat," he pointed out in a voice that sounded much more patient than Crow felt.

"NO! No days off! I changed my mind! Do you think that the _criminals_ are going to take a day off, you pussies?"

"Well, _I'm_ not going to give myself heatstroke!" Jack snarled, "Those drug dealers were there before, and they'll be there later! Now go back to sleep before I have to help you along with my fist!"

"Hey, I'm not liking your attitude," Kiryu warned. He drew closer to Jack, who recoiled in disgust.

"Kiryu, what the fuck is that on your chest? That's _nasty_."

Kiryu looked down.

"I dunno...bug bite, maybe? Those damn mosquitoes are everywhere."

"That don't look like no mosquito bite to me...maybe you should have Dr. Schmidt look at that," Crow chimed in. He'd been about to assume that Jack was overreacting again, but that reddish-purple spot did look bizarre, especially against Kiryu's pale skin.

"It's _fine._ Now stop changing the subject!" Kiryu spat. He winced slightly, and probed his mouth with his tongue like he was looking for a sore tooth.

"And you look a bit flushed," Yusei added, "Are you sick again?"

"I'm sure..." Kiryu began, only to get cut off by Yusei walking over and feeling his forehead. Was it just Crow's imagination, or did Kiryu turn even pinker?

"Well,"Yusei finally decided, "You _might_ have a fever, but it's hard to tell with this weather."

It took Kiryu a few seconds to recollect his thoughts, but when he did, it was clear that his mind was still set.

"G-great. Fine. Now is this Team Satisfaction or nursing school? Get your asses out of bed!"

Jack deliberately lay back down and put his pillow over his head, but Yusei shot him and Crow a pointed look.

"Okay, then, go get dressed and give us a few minutes to get ready," he told Kiryu.

Crow's "WHAT?" mingled with Jack's "You're _kidding_!"

Kiryu, on the other hand, beamed.

"See you guys, _Yusei_ knows his priorities!" he sang. Then he merrily stepped out of the room.

Once he was gone, Yusei turned to address the other two, who were glowering mutinously.

"Now I know that this is a bit...extreme," he said, "But I think Kiryu knows what he's doing. He hasn't often been wrong before, has he? So let's just go along with what he wants to do."

Well, it didn't look like they had much choice in the matter. Yusei was like the unofficial vice-president, and he didn't get that way for nothing. Usually he had good judgment.

* * *

><p>From there on out, things only got worse. Kiryu worked them all like dogs every day. He even frowned upon them taking meal breaks for any longer than the time it took to hurriedly gulp down a serving of noodles. When they needed a bathroom stop, they either had to hold it or go in an alley, with Kiryu watching to make sure there was no dawdling. They went to bed each night not knowing whether they'd be allowed to sleep all the way through it.<p>

And yet, Yusei continued to insist that this would all improve the city in the long run. Crow started to wonder whether he actually thought that, or whether he was trying to shield Kiryu from their growing discontent. Kiryu had become so obsessed with all this that he had a permanently unhealthy look about him. They didn't like to think what would happen if something really bad happened.

When had it become the case that they were the ones taking care of Kiryu, and not the other way around?

Crow soon realized that it wasn't going to be a matter of _if_, but _when_.

"Okay, guys, F sector tonight!" Kiryu said one evening in late August. He looked expectantly at them as if waiting for them to jump in joy, but all Crow wanted was to go to bed. They'd barely gotten any sleep at all last night, and Crow felt like he was running on fumes.

Kiryu had made it sound like there was some huge mob, but it was just two guys. The older of the two didn't look to be much more than their age.

"Hey, we was just lookin' for food! We don't want to fight!" he pleaded, but Kiryu would hear none of it.

"Get him, Yusei!" he commanded. Yusei obediently ran after the poor sap.

"You do the other one, Crow!" Kiryu ordered next. Crow had to clamp down an urge to roll his eyes. Why didn't Kiryu ever do it _himself_ anymore?

As he set off, he heard Jack complain, "What am _I_ supposed to do...be a cheerleader?"

Cornering this guy was pathetically easy. He was all ready to take this person out as quickly and painlessly as possible when the gang member lifted his head and...oh _shit_, that was just a little kid! No older than Crow had been when he met Kiryu. He remembered what Kiryu had said that night:

"_Kids here really only have two choices...join a gang or become a whore. Why won't anyone _do_ anything_?"

He had thought that they _were_ doing something. Had they really strayed that far from their goal? The poor boy was just trying to live a life where he didn't get fucked up the ass every night...and now that was _wrong_?

"Go home. Leave!" snapped Crow, trying not to show his inner upheaval. He turned and rammed his fist against the first hard surface he could find, trying to block out the memories that had been triggered.

_A little boy, hardly more than a baby, cold and hungry and scared...he'd trustingly followed the man who'd offered him food..._

"Why is this so _meaningless?_" screamed Crow. For once, Yusei, who had already finished his duel, had nothing to say in defense of Kiryu.

_After the boy had finished his bowl of soup, the man said, "Since I did something for you, you should do something in return. Don't you think that's fair?"_

He heard a sound and looked back to see Kiryu sneering triumphantly down at the kid, and raising his boot to stomp him in the head...

_The boy had cried and screamed for help and vomited up all he had just eaten, but if anyone had heard they didn't care..._

"STOP!" Crow shouted as he tacked Kiryu, but it might as well have also been directed at the ghosts from his past.

Kiryu howled in rage at the fact that Crow had let his prey escape. Crow was caught off-guard by the heavy hit to his stomach, but it felt like nothing compared to his mental anguish. Jack appeared seemingly out of nowhere and held Kiryu back, and Yusei similarly restrained Crow.

As Crow demanded that Yusei let him go, anger and hurt welled up in him so strongly that he felt like he was choking on it. How could Kiryu have betrayed him on so many levels...and how could Yusei just go along with it?

"That's it, I can't take this anymore!" he gasped out, "Dueling is supposed to be about _fun_. This is just...messed-up! I'm leaving!"

He walked away as calmly as he could under the circumstances, ignoring Kiryu calling after him. After a few seconds, he heard someone else join him...Jack. He could only begin to guess at what _his_ reasons were for leaving.

As they walked in silence, Crow started to wonder where he'd go now. He wasn't about to spend the night commiserating with Jack, and going back to his own place tonight would be too painful. As far as he could see, that left only one reasonable option.

* * *

><p>"Yo! No slamming the door, please!" Pearson shouted from across the warehouse as Crow stormed in. The kids all looked up from their board game at the sudden noise.<p>

Crow defiantly reopened the door and slammed it again even louder, just to show that he could.

Pearson ran over, saying calmly, "Now Crow, if you can't follow the rules, then I'll have to ask you to leave. I really don't think it's that difficult..." He trailed off as he saw the expression on Crow's face.

"What happened?" he asked in a gentle voice. But this only made Crow feel worse.

"I'll tell you what happened...Kiryu is a lying sack of shit and I'm never ever speaking to him again! EVER!"

"Hey, watch the language, the kids are right there," cautioned Pearson. Then he reasoned, "Well, I'm sure that it's not as bad as it seems now. This will probably all blow over in time, right?"

"It won't. And I don't want to talk about it anymore," Crow grumbled.

"Okay then. If you need some time to yourself, that's cool. You can set up camp by that wall...I think that spot's low-traffic. Oh, and we just had dinner and there's just enough food left for you...want some?"

"_No_."

"Well, I'd be happier if you'd eat something...but I'll let you have some quiet time now."

For the next several hours, Crow sat on an old blanket staring at the wall. He could hear Pearson murmuring something to the kids, and it was pretty obvious he was telling them to not bother Crow. He probably thought that Crow and Kiryu had had a lover's spat or something along those lines.

Crow didn't move even after all the kids had been put to bed. After they were all settled, Pearson walked over to check on Crow, but the latter refused to even look at him. After a few minutes, Pearson sighed and went to bed himself. The total darkness was soothing, and at some point Crow finally lay down and slept himself.


	4. Destruction

A/N: I actually finished this! You know, I was so nervous to start this fic since I wasn't sure I'd have it in me, but I did!

This chapter is naturally heavily reliant on canon dialogue. I used the subs from Toonzaki, with minor alterations here and there. Nothing that changed the meaning, though.

Also...I am well-aware that doctors wouldn't normally behave quite like that. I did look for information on how doctors in prisons might act, and got nothing. But this is an extreme situation, and there are unethical people all over the place in 5D's.

As for the sickness...I researched _that_ quite thoroughly.

* * *

><p>"Kiryu, you've been sitting at that sewing machine for six hours straight. Don't you think it's time to take a break?"<p>

Kiryu blinked. Surely it couldn't have been that long! Since this had been a rare day where there hadn't been any discernible criminal activity, he'd decided to do some sewing instead. It felt like he had just sat down to work a few minutes ago. But Yusei usually knew what he was talking about, so Kiryu would take his word for it.

"What're you making?" Yusei asked casually as Kiryu rose from the old three-legged stool and stretched.

"Another blanket. It's gotten cold pretty early this year...haven't you noticed?"

"No, it's felt like more or less normal weather to me," Yusei answered as his brow furrowed. He was even cuter than usual when he looked worried. It made Kiryu want to lick the wrinkles that formed on his forehead.

"You take such good care of me, Yusei!" Kiryu said as he walked closer.

"I try my best," was the reply. Kiryu frowned. No matter how he tried to flirt, Yusei seemed completely oblivious.

"And _you'll_ stay with me, right? It'll be just you and me... _forever_," he continued. He sat next to Yusei and leaned his head in. Their noses were practically touching before Yusei noticed anything out of the ordinary.

"Well...that's the plan, anyway," he said softly. His breath tickled Kiryu's face.

Now would be the perfect time for them to finally kiss...and maybe do even more if Yusei allowed it. Kiryu was already starting to get turned on at the thought. There was just one problem, however...those stupid sores in his mouth. They would probably make a kiss very uncomfortable for both participants. And then Yusei might start asking questions...no, it wouldn't be worth the risk.

"I'll get us some dinner," Kiryu stated abruptly, quickly turning and walking out the door of their hideout before the other boy noticed his state of arousal.

In other cases, he was never shy about working for what he wanted. Why did this have to be so different?

* * *

><p>He had thought that if he ignored these strange ailments, they'd go away on their own. Even as he continued to lose weight, even when the ugly splotches appeared on his chest and spread to his back and legs, Kiryu pretended that he didn't detect anything out of the ordinary. But he couldn't keep up this charade for much longer. Just a few days ago, he'd vomited up blood. It was official...something was very wrong.<p>

What if it was cancer? How much longer did he have to live? He could tell no one about this, since they'd make him stop chasing after criminals. He must keep on protecting this city to his last breath.

And if it was true..if he _was_ dying, then he couldn't waste any more time. Breaking up gangs wasn't enough...if he wanted to get to the root of the problem, he'd have to take down Security. Their job was to keep order, but they didn't seem to care about crimes unless _they_ were targeted. They turned a blind eye to the drug-dealing and prostitution and pedophilia, but if someone tried to steal their precious cards or D-Wheels, there was hell to pay. And then when they started riding around Satellite showing off said D-Wheels, it was the last straw for Kiryu. He thought about it a while, and came up with a plan. Then he summoned Yusei to go over the details.

Yusei looked a bit nervous at Kiryu's new choice of headquarters. The latter had decided that buildings were too boring, so from now on they were going to have meetings on a rooftop. Being out in the open air made him feel freer. He'd moved a table and chairs up there and everything. So there was maybe a small chance the roof wouldn't hold...what was life without a little risk?

"What did you want to talk about?" Yusei asked. But Kiryu barely heard him. He was distracted by another subject. It was getting dark, and no one would be able to see them up here. He wanted Yusei to dominate him; to take him right there and then. And he didn't want any of that wishy-washy "gentle" crap, either. It was weird...why would he like this concept so much now when he'd detested it in his whore days? He didn't know. But that didn't matter now. All Kiryu had to do was reach across the table and grab...

"Kiryu?" Yusei's voice cut in.

Oh yeah...right...the meeting. Kiryu wiped off the bit of drool that had run onto his chin. Now what was he going to talk about again? Security...that was it.

So he told Yusei the idea. It was brilliant, if Kiryu did say so himself. Turning Security's materialism against it...why had no one else thought of it before? Just like that story with the wooden horse thingy.

Yusei's reaction was what Kiryu had neither expected nor wanted.

"What? You want to defeat _Security?_" he asked incredulously as he stood up.

"Yeah, it'll be Team Satisfaction's final opponent," Kiryu explained. He meant this in more ways than one, but the others didn't have to know that.

Yusei still didn't seem convinced, so he continued, "By defeating them, we will truly conquer Satellite. Bring back Jack and Crow. The four of us will crush them!" Couldn't Yusei see this for himself? It was what they had always wanted, so why was he hesitating?

And Kiryu didn't want to say so out loud, but despite the other two boys' betrayal he sort of missed them. Especially Crow. Yusei was a loyal companion, but he didn't have the same infectious energy that Crow did.

Yusei slammed his hands on the table.

"Kiryu, don't you understand that this is a suicide mission?" he shouted.

He was right. That was why Kiryu found it so appealing. Better to go out in a blaze of glory than to let this sickness off him first.

"Are you scared, Yusei?" he inquired mildly.

Yusei grabbed the front of Kiryu's shirt-despite the situation, Kiryu felt a jolt of excitement-then let go almost immediately.

"I can't stay with you anymore. If you want to do this, do it by yourself," he sighed.

Kiryu couldn't believe what he was hearing. For an instant, he thought it might be a joke, but then Yusei walked away without saying anything further.

How could Yusei _do_ this to him? Wait...maybe it was better this way. The other three would see what they missed out on, and then they'd be sorry for leaving him. They'd live, possibly for decades more, but always with the knowledge that they were nothing but cowards. Meanwhile, _he_ would be revered as a martyr.

* * *

><p>Kiryu spent several days getting everything ready. It probably wouldn't have taken so long, but he kept having to take breaks due to fatigue, and had tremors in his hands that interfered with the more detailed work.<p>

He felt especially shitty the day of the attack. But he had to do this anyway, since there were supposed to be several days of rain in the forecast, starting late that night. If the explosives got wet, they might not ignite properly.

As soon as the sun set, he placed his cleverly-disguised bombs in a box outside Security headquarters, took his place, and waited. Hopefully, they were stable enough that they wouldn't explode as soon as someone picked up the box. That wouldn't cause enough damage for Kiryu's liking.

After what seemed like forever, a guard saw the box and took it inside. Would Kiryu's forgery of a delivery label be good enough to fool him? Well, he supposed he could always try again if this time didn't work. It would be a huge pain making more duel disk replicas, though.

Then...he heard the detonation and saw the cloud of smoke. Success! He laughed in triumph. Now the chase was on. Letting them catch him now wouldn't be _nearly_ interesting enough.

He managed to find shelter just as the rain started to fall. Once inside, he thought over his next move. He'd have to take as many of those officers with him as he could. Maybe he could even kill them all, then take his own life. The _last_ thing he wanted was to be arrested.

Then Kiryu saw the spotlights of the D-Wheels shine on the building. Damn, they'd been faster than he was expecting. He wasn't finished planning yet!

"We know you're in there! Come out and surrender!" shouted one of the officers. Uh...yeah. No freaking way Kiryu was about to do _that_. He wanted to put up a good and long fight.

He thought he heard footsteps. Were those the officers already? He got his duel disk ready just in case. But it wasn't the officers after all. It was Yusei, Jack, and Crow!

"I knew it!" Kiryu cried joyfully, "It's my friends...we're Team Satisfaction again!" So...they had seen the light!

His joy turned to confusion, though, as Jack asked, "Why are you doing something so stupid?"

"We came here to stop you!" Crow added.

Ah, they were joking, Kiryu realized. That must be it! They knew full well no one could ever stop _him_.

"We're all together!" he exclaimed as he embraced them. He felt lightheaded from all of the emotion. He looked down at those stupid Security men as he continued to laugh.

"This will be Team Satisfaction's last duel!" he repeated, since Crow and Jack weren't around to hear the first time he said it. He had to clutch the frame of the window briefly as a dizzy spell overtook him. But it passed in a few seconds, and no one seemed to have noticed. No, wait a minute, they didn't notice because they were too busy putting their duel disks down. What, _again? _Those assholes! Honestly, it was like they thought they could all link arms and skip with the Security officers through a meadow or some stupid shit. How could he ever convince them to man up and face the enemy?

"Aren't you going to battle alongside me? This is our last duel!" Kiryu goaded them. He knew he was just saying the same stuff over and over again, but he was too angry to think up anything new. But it wasn't like _they_ had any brilliant insights either.

Crow said that there was no way they would be able to take Security down. Right...and this was coming from the guy who had stolen cards from them on about ten different occasions, and had only gotten caught once.

Yusei said something about escaping, so Kiryu turned to address him directly.

"I know you're not _satisfied_ yet!" he taunted. He tried his best to leer, but that was slightly difficult when there were suddenly two Yuseis in his field of vision. He blinked, and things came back into focus. Then he reminded them that this was the last step towards conquering Satellite, since they would never understand the _main_ reason for his actions. They protested, and he retorted, but none of this was quite registering in his mind.

By now Kiryu was babbling, but he didn't notice. It was almost like he wasn't even in his own body anymore, but rather hovering _over_ it. All of his surroundings seemed blurred and surreal. His heart gave a sudden lurch. No, he couldn't let himself collapse. He had to find one last surge of energy.

Then, Kiryu heard Security start their attack. He abruptly snapped back into reality and found that extra strength. He jumped out of the building and started to run, not even feeling the cold drops of rain on his body. A D-Wheel chased him. Perfect.

He summoned a strong monster that he thought would take the officer down, but was taken aback when the man easily deflected the attack. No...he refused to be taken down that easily! If that was how this bastard wanted to play, then Kiryu would have to try other tactics.

He managed to leap on top of the D-Wheel, and fought for all of his worth. Wait...was that Yusei calling after him? No time to think about that. Finally, he managed to distract the man enough so that he skidded and drove through some crates. The D-Wheel crashed and the officer went flying.

Kiryu checked the guy. He had a head wound, but he was still breathing. Damn...looked like he'd have to do this the hard way. He grabbed the first weapon-like object he saw; an old plank. He fleetingly wished for a knife, which would produce more blood and therefore be more satisfying, but there was nothing to be done about it.

Now he was no longer thinking of a heroic death...his rage was focused solely on this person. He swung the plank with all his might.

"STOP IT!"

Yusei launched himself at Kiryu, similarly to how Crow had done that other time. No...NO! He would _not_ let anyone get in the way when he had been so close! The two of them rolled several times on the ground, Kiryu growling and shrieking like an animal.

"Let go of me!" he howled when they came to a stop. Oh, in _any_ situation other than this one, this would be Kiryu's dream come true, but now he was just bent on escaping so he could finish his job. Yusei let him go, only for Jack and Crow to replace him. Kiryu was too angry and out-of-breath to speak. He felt his heart pounding throughout his whole body.

Then Yusei walked _toward_ the Security D-Wheels. Hadn't he just been talking about escaping? What could possibly be going on?

Kiryu couldn't hear what Yusei was saying, but then...Jack and Crow moved aside and the Security guys grabbed him. They COULDN'T! HOW DARE THEY? After all he had done for him, they back-stabbed him!

The head officer grinned and patted Yusei on the back. Kiryu felt physically sick. He was angrier than he could ever get at Security. They were interchangeable people for the most part, but Yusei...he had known Yusei. He had _loved_ him, both as a friend and as something extra.

He screamed Yusei's name as loudly as he could, but the officers forced him into the van. Even then, he tried to escape until they slammed the doors and drove off.

* * *

><p>It was a long and bumpy ride to the jail. Kiryu got carsick and threw up. The back of the van was too dark for him to see clearly, but he could tell just from the taste that there was more blood in it.<p>

Then when they got there, the guards all seemed intent on putting Kiryu in as much agony as they could. After the booking and marking, they didn't take him to his cell. Instead, they dragged him off into a separate room.

"That man was our _friend_!" one of them shouted as he punched Kiryu in the face. He fell on the floor from the force of the blow, but that didn't deter them.

"His wife is going to have a baby next month!" the man continued as he stepped on Kiryu's hand. "A little boy! Now..." -kick in the ribs-"that baby..."-kick in the back of the head-"might not have a father! Did you even _think_ about that?"

"Of course he didn't," said a second man as he yanked Kiryu's head up by the hair and slammed it back on the floor. "He's from Satellite...they don't _think_!"

And so it continued. When they tired of assailing him with their fists and feet, they flogged him with their belts instead. Kiryu was fairly sure that at least one of them urinated on him as well. And when they bored of _that_, they yanked his pants down. Mercifully, he lost consciousness shortly thereafter.

Some time later...it could have been just a few hours, or it could have been a whole week for all he knew...Kiryu was thrown into his cell. The door slammed shut.

He blinked his eyes open, but the pain in his body was too great for him to move any more. But he did notice that they had taken his duel disk and deck. Through all the previous ordeals, he hadn't cried once, but this was the last straw. He started sobbing, each breath feeling like it was shredding his lungs.

* * *

><p>The days all blended into each other. Kiryu would be hard-pressed to tell whether it was even day or night. He had heard of prisoners keeping track of the time by tally marks on the wall, but he didn't care enough even to do that.<p>

He spent most of his hours either sleeping or plotting revenge. He knew there was a very slim chance of him ever getting out of here, but if he did, he had some special surprises in store for Yusei. First of all, he'd cut off Yusei's dick with a dull knife, and perhaps get a mold made from it for his own pleasure. Then he'd scoop out his eyes and make him drink drain cleaner and decapitate him...in that order. As time elapsed, he added even more onto the list. Soon it wasn't very realistic at all...but it did entertain him somewhat.

He tried to think up similar plans of torture for Crow and Jack, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He really didn't know Jack well enough to have those heights of scorching anger at him...and Crow was special. He'd known Crow before either of the others, of course, and he still recalled their time together. So maybe if he escaped, he'd just hang Crow up by his thumbs for a few hours until he got the message.

At first, he put these plans for mutilating Yusei to song, but after a few weeks he developed a cough. It got so bad he could scarcely breathe, let alone sing. He hacked and wheezed, but none of the heaviness in his chest was ever removed. Also, those spots were on his arms now, and it seemed like he was constantly spitting out loose teeth.

Finally, even the guards noticed that there was something wrong with Kiryu.

"Come on, you're taking a trip to the infirmary," one of them said as he opened the door. He handcuffed Kiryu, and accompanied by two other guards marched him down the hall.

The infirmary was a small room, with an adjoining laboratory. It nearly blinded Kiryu with its whiteness and cleanliness. A row of five or six beds ran along one wall, and an examination table, supply cabinet and sink were on the other side of the room. There really wasn't room for anything else.

The doctor poked and examined Kiryu for a very long time. He also drew some blood and took X-Rays. Kiryu was too tired to do anything other than just sit and let him.

Then the doctor walked into the lab, and Kiryu could hear him talking to someone else. He supposed that they didn't really bother with discretion in a place like this.

"I'll need you to do a CD4 count on that sample."

"You think...?" asked the other person.

"I'm about 98 percent sure. Of course, we can't know for sure until we get the results, and maybe some further testing too, but this looks like a textbook case. Kaposi's sarcomas are widespread, the chest X-rays show pneumonia, and there are signs of encephalopathy. And he's so young, too. What a shame."

"So it's not congenital? Or from a blood transfusion?"

"As far as I can tell, no. And nothing we can do. No matter how much I ask for more funding, the director just ignores any evidence of an outbreak. Poor kid."

"HEY!" Kiryu shouted, " I'm right here, you know! What are you talking about? What's CD4 mean? What I got?"

The doctor came back out to the main room.

"I'm very sorry," he began.

"Just _tell me what I got_!"

"Well...have you ever heard of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus?"

"The _what?_"

"I...I think you have AIDS. It's surprising you've made it this long. You have maybe a month to live at most."

Kiryu wasn't particularly stunned by this revelation. He already _knew_ he didn't have much time left; putting a name to the condition didn't make much of a difference.

It was only when he was being walked back into his cell that he saw the humorous side.

"Why're you laughing?" asked one of the guards.

"You're all going to _die_!" Kiryu informed him. He laughed hysterically, only to break down into another coughing fit. They had helped him accomplish his goal, and they didn't even know it!

"He's a bit confused," whispered a second guard rather audibly. They all smirked.

* * *

><p>The doctor had said Kiryu was going to die soon, so why was it taking so infernally long to happen? Every inhalation was a monumental struggle, yet he kept on living anyway. He'd stopped eating or even drinking water in order to speed things up...not that he had much appetite to begin with. If they'd had any antibiotics-which of course they didn't-he would have refused to take them.<p>

Then, one day, he felt his heart start to slow down. He sat and waited. Then something rather peculiar happened...he heard a voice.

"I'm a messenger from the afterlife," it boomed. It took Kiryu a few seconds to comprehend the speech, since it was very archaic language.

Was he hallucinating? Did it even matter?

The voice kept speaking to him. It said that if Kiryu joined him, he would get his wish of revenge. All he'd have to do was become something called a "Dark Signer".

Well, it wasn't like Kiryu had any choice in the matter, so why not? He was so tired...he slumped over and gave himself up to the darkness. And it was thus that the guards found him a short while later.

* * *

><p>A guard merrily whistled "Another One Bites the Dust" as he wheeled the gurney down the hall.<p>

"You could get in big trouble for doing that, you know," cautioned his companion.

"Eh, who's even going to notice? There's no one here except us. No one here _alive_, that is."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

They had reached the morgue, where they would store the body for a few hours until they could take it to the medical examiner's office.

As they were preparing to lift the gurney into a cubicle, they saw movement.

"_What the_..."

The supposedly dead body sat up. The guards shouted and shot at him, but the bullets bounced off him and had no effect. All he did was look at them with a twisted smile.

"This'll be _fun_..." he rasped.

THE END


End file.
